Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO-IOF), Rome, İtalya, 17 - 20 Nisan 2013, cilt.24
Objective: Falls are the major cause of fractures in all ages. However, the majority of osteoporotic fractures occur in the elderly. If we can prevent falls, we can also prevent the majority of the osteoporotic fractures. In this study, we aimed to study the determinants of falls and/or fear to falls in community dwelling elderly.
Material and Methods: The community dwelling elderly ≥60 years of age admitted to our geriatrics outpatient clinics were included into study. Age, gender, timed up and go (TUG) test, 4 meters usual gait speed, chronic disease number, chronic drug number, geriatric syndrome number, activities of daily living (ADL) scores,presence of depression, dementia, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, visual impairment, polypharmacy, undernutrition, dynapenia, sarcopenia according to muscle mass, sarcopenia according to EWGSOP definition, chronic pain, serum 25(OH)vitamin D, TSH levels were studied for their possible effect on falls and/or fall fear.
Results: 95 elderly were included into the study. 27.4 % were males, 72.6 % were females. Mean age was 73.6±5.9. 32.6 % had at least 1 fall in the previous year and 43 % had fear to falls. Only determinants of falls and/or falls fear were older age, higher number of geraitric syndromes, dependency in ADL, higher TUG period and lower 4 m usual gait speed (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Older elderly with higher number of geriatric syndromes, with at least 1 dependency in ADL are more likely to fall or have fall of fearing. In physical examination, TUG test and 4 meters usual gait speed may help to predict elderly at risk of falls. We suggest that assessment of geriatric syndromes, functional status, TUG and usual gait speed should be an integral part of evaluation for osteoporotic fractures.